This invention relates to optically pumped solid state lasers.
Optically pumped solid state lasers have been demonstrated to be useful sources of coherent radiation for more than twenty years. For example, semicondutor lasers have been used to pump solid state crystalline materials such as Nd:YAG and are now available commercially. In most laser materials, especially solid state crystals such as Nd:YAG, the presence of spectral and/or spatial hole burning will cause more than one longitudinal mode to oscillate in devices where the intracavity mode spacing is less than the gain bandwidth of the active medium. These known devices require mode selecting elements in the laser resonator to achieve single frequency operation or operating in a ring cavity configuration.